One Cebu exec steps down, backs Moreno

MANILA, Philippines — Cebu third district Rep. Pablo John Garcia stepped down as secretary general of One Cebu Party, which endorsed the presidential bid of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Garcia announced his decision yesterday as he reiterated his support for presidential candidate Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.

“From the start, I have been clear and consistent about my support for Mayor Isko Moreno’s candidacy for president. I believe that he is, among the many choices, the most capable and best prepared to lead the country out of this many-pronged crisis that it now faces, and in the future,” Garcia said.

He pointed out that Moreno’s track record and brand of leadership “best exemplify the ideals I see in One Cebu’s candidates for governor and vice governor.”

“I am not known to abandon a comrade-in-arms mid-battle. And I am not about to do so now, in the few years left of my political life,” he added.

Pol Nombre, Visayas campaign director for Team Lopangu, said the group would continue to support Moreno.

“Our convictions matter, not the surveys. We remain convinced that Isko Moreno is the best candidate for president,” Nombre said.

Nombre described Moreno as pro-poor, decisive, and innovative.

Lawyer Adonis Gumahad, Team Lopangu director for Mindanao, said the group members voluntarily use their own funds as they believe in Moreno.Presidential aspirant Manila Mayor Isko Moreno yesterday shrugged off the defection of some of his volunteers to the camp of his rival Vice President Leni Robredo.

In an ambush interview in San Pedro, Laguna, where he held his sorties, Moreno questioned the “character” of volunteers and officials of Ikaw Muna (IM) Pilipinas who abandoned him for Robredo.

“I wish them all the best. This separates the men from the boys… It’s a test of character,” Moreno said of his former volunteers and provincial coordinators.

Former Metro Manila Development Authority general manager Tim Orbos, who was one of the convenors of IM Pilipinas when it was founded last year to convince Moreno to run, announced their switch of allegiance yesterday.

Orbos was joined by former IM Pilipinas secretary-general Elmer Argaño, who had earlier described Robredo as the candidate to beat survey frontrunner former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the most capable of preventing the return of the late dictator’s family to Malacañang. –  Marc Jayson Cayabyab